Mercy played 189 minutes last year, he has played 175 this year.
This is real improvement.
Last Year /This Year
FG% .254/.517
3Pt% .179/.333
eFg% .294/.575
FT% .719/.769
Per 40 minutes
Ast 1.7/2.3
TOs 1.7/0.7
Pts 12.7/18.1
Advanced
PER 10.7/21.7
TS% .384/.597
TO% 9.3/4.3
BPM -1.4/9.7
My take on Mercy.
If we were forced to play Mercy, we would 100% be fine. He would be another Taze. His shooting has improved, and he might be the best all around scorer on the team.
But yesterday made it obvious that if we are not forced to play him (injury), there is no real incentive to play him, especially with the progression of everyone else. His defense is not at the level of his competition. Harwell and McCarty have become stoppers and impactful rebounders. And the offense without Mercy is not so bad that you would sacrifice minutes from stoppers who are becoming elite.
Also, While Mercy is a great all around scorer, his style of offense is very iso heavy. Everyone else has to stand around. His offense takes away from the flow of the offense for others. That can work, and we have made that work before with Rob and Mills, but there is no need to âtry and make it workâ.
In my opinion, the missing piece for Mercy would be more physicality on defense, bulldog style (impacting defense). He does not have the size like Harwell or McCarty. Or he would need to vastly improve his playmaking so his offense does not take the air out of the room. I am not sure either of those things are fixable mid season.
It will be interesting to see what Mercy does this offseason. He is probably a 10 points per game player on a top tier team as a rotation guy. Probably closer to 15 on a bad P5 or good mid major. He could probably average around 20 if he follows his dad to New Orleans (bad mid major).
With Harwell likely coming back now and McCarty playing a lot more on the wing, there is not a clear path for him to start. I will be curious to see how he approaches the offseason, or if the coaches try to sell him on a point guard role with improved playmaking and defense development for him in the offseason.
Mercy âmay be the best offensive player this yearâ?
I like Mercy and hope that he stays another year and has a bigger role.
But he struggles getting his shot against decent defense.
Sharp, Kingston, Cenac and Uzan are all better offensively.
Just my opinion, but for Mercy to showcase what he does best, he needs to transfer. I respect that Mercy knows his deficiencies and is working to improve. The problem at UH is he gets limited minutes coming off the bench and his defense is still a work in progress. Sampson sees Mercy everyday at practice and Mercy is the 8th person coming off the bench.
Stay at UH and keep coming off the bench or drop down in competition and be the teamâs leading scorer?
He will be a great microwave 6/7th man next year if we find ourselves struggling to score with no King/Eman/Los.
He can get to being as good defensively as Milos.
Starters are
Transfer PG
Isiah
Holt/McCarty
Tugler? Cenac? McCarty? Transfer?
Diane
Then itâs Mercy, Bryce, Kordel.
Microwave Mercy could be a big part of what we do in 26/27. Shades of Sasser in his game.
Also donât sleep on Bryce.
The thing is, he doesnât need to showcase what heâs good at - he needs to get better at the other things if he wants a future in the NBA. He knows this, and his dad knows this, which is why they know he would not be better off transferring to a weaker program and weaker competition just to put up numbers.
Let the dude work though the process.
Who has transferred out to âshowcaseâ themselves that has ended up in a better place professionally because of it?
Agreed.
Look at the hoopla of pundits preferring our hero Jamal Shead over Trae Young!!!
If you canât guard in the league you canât win in the playoffs.
They just abuse the weak link over and over.
Kids know that they will give themselves a better chance to play at the highest level if they come here and teams can have faith they wonât be a liability.
Barring a big transfer guard coming in, Mercy will likely be our starting SG next season if he returns. I see Kordel as our starting PG at this point.
Hoping Jojo comes back for another season since he will likely be a late first rounder at best. Him and Diane can feast in the paint next season. I can see our team being inside out on offense like the Josh Carlton season, which I know brings a lot of us great memories.
Just a thought, but if Mercy did want to transfer, he should consider University of Louisiana Raginâ Cajuns. Coach Q is a Sampson disciple, familiar with Mercyâs game, and will continue the hard coaching that Mercy needs for his defense. Mercy also has a better chance of starting at Louisiana than he would at Houston. He is also closer to his dad at New Orleans.
If Mercy is your starting SG next year, you can kiss Caleb Holt goodbye.
Kordel has almost no PT this year, hasnt played in a few seasons, and wasnt a pg in high school. i hioighly doubt weâd put him as the starting pg⊠we will almost certainly bring in a pg from outside
as of right now, mcarty and harwell will start over mercy⊠mccarty can play the 3 or 4 for us⊠i also dont think weâll intentionally plan a small ball starting lineup⊠so IMO harwell starts at 2, mmcarty starts at 3âŠ
Has to figure it out on defense.
And I had no doubt that you would try to argue your way out of this. All in all it makes or means very little to me to try to prove to somebody who doesnât wanna listen.
I think there is a path to Mercy starting next season if we donât land Holt.
I agree, just wanted to be positive about bringing Holt to start.
Well my forecast doesnât factor in Holt coming and I am not sure we are favored to land him. If he does commit to us, then he probably starts at SG.
Thatâs what it will come down to. Most of our resources and planning will be devoted to PG in the portal. Could also grab a SG, but I think they will be fine with Mercy at the 2.
Fair. Kordel was basically a PG in the few minutes he has played. He exhibited the type of play Sampson likes in a PG. He was confident, aggressive, etc.
But yes, if we get a transfer PG or Alozie shows up like Kingston has this year, then Kordel is the back up.
We are in a great spot with Holt. As we always have been.
Perfect scenario. You land Holt and Tugler comes back. And you add a PG and starting 4 or 5 in portal.
PG: Portal/Alozie
G: Holt/Mercy
G: Harwell/McCarty
F: Tugler/McFarland
C: Portal/Diane
Could flip flop Tugler and portal C if we can find a stretch 4. Could put McCarty backing up Harwell or Tugler.
First 3 off the bench in this scenario: McCarty, Mercy, Diane.
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